Improvement in hoisting and lowering apparatus



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IsAAC I. LANCASTER, oF"vANC'oUvERwvAsnINCToN TERRITORY.

IMPROVEMENT IN HCIVSTING AND-Lowt-:RING APPARATUS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 48,414, dated June 27, 1865.

To all whom it may concern.'

Beit known that I, ISAAC I. LANCASTER, of Vancouver, in the county of Clark and Territory of Washington, have invented a new and Improved Hoisting and Lowering Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full and exact description ot' the same,refer ence being had to the accompanying drawings,

making part ot' this specification, in which- Figure lis a plan of my improved apparatus, showing the parts in position for lowering. Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof, with the parts in position for hoisting. Fig. 3 is a side elevation ot' the same in its lowering capacity.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

In this machine the hoisting is et'ected by gravitating-pawls operated by a lever and alweight to be elevated or lowered.

C is a ratchet-wheel keyed upon the shaft B, andD D' are pawls, pivoted one above the other to lugs e e' on the end of a lever, E, which is designed to be operated by-hand orin any other desirable manner. For hoisting purposes, the pawls D D' operate by gravity, they being arranged to alternately take into the teeth otl the ratchet-wheel, and turn the same by the vibraing movement of the lever E in customary manner. The lever E, to which the pawls are attached, is pivoted by means of a shaft, F, having its bearings in the frame A.

Blue and red arrows in Fig. 2 illustrate the relative movements of the various parts when the apparatus is hoisting.

To lower a weight gradually, orto limit the speed at which the wheel C rotates when a weight is being lowered,I employ springs G G', pivoted respectively to the upper and under sides of the lever E, and also a rod, H, the upper end of which is detlected so as to extend over the pawlD and retain it, with the pawl D',inworkingposition. ThespringGisturned beneath the pawl D, and the spring G' beneath the pawl D'. In Fig. 3 the pawl D is represented as engaging' with one of the teeth of the ratchet-wheel (l, at which point in the operation the pawl D' is thrown out of connection with the teeth of the ratchet-wheel by the spring G'. The pawls in this position, a slight depression of the lever E advances the pawl D' toward the ratchet-wheel C, andretracts therefrom the other pawl, D, until it becomes disengaged from the ratchet-tooth, when the spring G immediately throws it upward, so as to allow the tooth with which it is engaged to pass under it as the wheel C rotates in the direction indicated by the red arrows i'n Fig. 3. While the pawl D is being retracted the pawl D' is depressed by a spring, d, on the under sideof the former, so that as soon as the pawl D is thrown outot' connection with the ratchetwheel, the latter is checked in it motion by the pawl D' engaging with a lower tooth. The raising of the lever E throws the pawl D again in connection with the Wheel and at the saine time retracts the pawl D', the latter being thrown up by the spring G' when disengaged. VVhenthe apparatus is used for hoisting, the springs G G', being pivoted, may be turned aside, as in Fig. 2.

Having thus described my invention, what Iclaim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

The employment, in connection with a ratchetwheel and Windlass, of pawls D D', springs G G' d, a retainer, H, and lever E, the whole being arranged and operating substantially in the'manner and for the purposes set forth.

ISAAC I. LANCASTER. Witnesses:

J. E. WYCHE, B. N. SEXTCN. 

